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Lessons from a trip to Washington
A few days broadcasting from frozen D.C. makes me eager to get back to sunny California, but it also impresses on the visitor many lessons.
The first is that the revolution in journalism is accelerating. Hosting panels of young and extraordinarily talented scribes from the Washington Free Beacon and the Daily Caller produces a kind of awe at the amount of talent...
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Obama’s Jarring “Morning in America” Dud
The president offered a tone of cheerful nationalism, celebrating everything that’s great about America, with no hint of the “fundamental transformation” he once promised. The substance of the speech was almost non-existent other than a series of rehashes and meaningless gestures. But the good news was that vacuousness isn’t scary. Two...
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Obama’s “Dream” and the Abortion Nightmare
Barack Obama won the presidency in large part through promises to unify America and close painful gaps in our society. Unfortunately, he missed an important chance to advance that process on the recent 41st anniversary of the Roe Vs. Wade decision on abortion. The president could have acknowledged the thousands of sincere, idealistic people who braved the...
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Explaining Poverty
With President Obama stressing economic inequality in his State of the Union Address, a new poll seemed to support the idea that the nation’s distribution of wealth is fundamentally unfair. According to the Pew Research Center, more people say an individual’s poverty comes from “circumstances beyond his or her control” than those who blame “lack of...
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Feds Fight Drunken Sex on Campus
In late January, the president convened a task force of “senior administration officials” to stop drunken sex on college campuses. He endorsed a new report from the White House Council on Women and Girls showing that many female victims are “abused while they’re drunk, under the influence of drugs or otherwise incapacitated.” Most college students...
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Unbalanced Hatred in the Middle East
President Obama’s interview with New Yorker magazine generated controversy with its insistence that marijuana is no more dangerous than alcohol. But he’s been pushing another false equivalence that is even more outrageous—and dangerous.
Noting that Sunni nations like Saudi Arabia share Israel’s interest in restraining Iran, the president speculated...
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What Preoccupies the Left? What Preoccupies the Right?
In both personal and public life, you can know a great deal about a person or a group if you know what most bothers them — and what doesn’t bother them. A news item this past week made this point with glaring clarity. It reported a meeting that the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human […]
The post What Preoccupies the Left? What...
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What Preoccupies the Left? What Preoccupies the Right?
In both personal and public life, you can know a great deal about a person or a group if you know what most bothers them — and what doesn’t bother them. A news item this past week made this point with glaring clarity. It reported a meeting that the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human […]
The post What Preoccupies the Left? What...
Read More
What Preoccupies the Left? What Preoccupies the Right?
In both personal and public life, you can know a great deal about a person or a group if you know what most bothers them — and what doesn’t bother them. A news item this past week made this point with glaring clarity. It reported a meeting that the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human […]
The post What Preoccupies the Left? What...
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Targeting service members for budget savings is a losing strategy for Republicans
What do former Secretary of Defense Robert Gates; former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton; Charles Krauthammer; Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas; Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.; Rep. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; Rep. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla.; Rep. Corey Gardner, R-Colo.; and Rep. Mike Pompeo, R-Kan.; all have in common?
Each has appeared on my radio show in the past two weeks and...
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Next GOP Nominee: Conservative Record, Moderate Tone
With New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie enmeshed in scandal, the race for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination suddenly looks wide open. But before the GOP coalesces around a new front-runner, they need to drop dangerous delusions about what went wrong in 2008 and 2012.
For Republicans, that means abandoning the groundless conclusion that they lost twice to...
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Five Papal Questions for Pres. Obama
By Brian Fahy & Garrett Fahy
The White House announced on Tuesday that President Obama will meet with Pope Francis on March 27 at the Vatican. This will be the first meeting between the president and the Pope, and it could not come at a more precipitous moment. Across the globe and across the United States, profound questions of religious freedom and human...
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Obama Needs French Lessons
The President of France has been reeling from a dysfunctional economy, 20 percent approval ratings, and lurid reports of his extra marital adventures.
But Francois Hollande has also drawn praise from other European leaders and the French business community for a bid to re-boot his administration. In a shocking speech, he called for corporate tax cuts,...
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VOTER I.D.: Racist and Unconstitutional?
Leftist judges and Democratic activists increasingly embrace the ludicrous idea that requiring voters to show picture ID constitutes a form of unconstitutional racism. This is absurd and groundless: the Constitution explicitly guarantees a right to bear arms, but liberals never question background checks or photo identification before you get guns.
Moreover,...
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GOP Needs Unity, Not Factional Takeover
Before “Bridge-gate”, Governor Chris Christie tried to build a sense of inevitability about his potential presidential campaign. That’s gone now, and, at least today, it’s by no means certain he’ll even run. Republicans should therefore focus on qualities we need most in a nominee rather than prematurely coalescing around any one specific...
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Losses Aren’t Always Insulting “Snubs”
After the announcement of Academy Award nominations, countless commentators focused on unexpected Oscar “snubs.” For instance, the Coen Brothers’ over-praised movie INSIDE LLEWYN DAVIS got no major nominations, and Tom Hanks, Robert Redford, Emma Thompson and Oprah Winfrey won’t be finalists for acting awards.
But these aren’t “snubs”—any more...
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